It's also a matter that when Faulk gets injured again, the Hurricanes will either have to test a career AHL'er, a rookie (McKweon) or play someone on their left side.
With Wiz you had Faulk, Wiz, Pesce, then a qualified Murphy (who I think was good enough in a 6th dman role, but whose inability to deal with physicality on the forecheck is his biggest issue) as the 7th defenseman.
But now, now now, not soon, not later, now, we are one Faulk injury away from a guy playing serious minutes on his offside (which I don't like) or Murphy playing top-4 minutes (also no).
Optimistically, they'll sign a cheap veteran RHD and then focus most of Wiz's money on a winger- so I hope this is an indication of a trade or signing.
There's a lot that goes into these decisions. I know when some players get hurt, they can drop off the radar in terms of being connected to the guys in the room. If Carolina brought him in to be a mentor, then they may not have liked what they saw or didn't see from how Wiz handled that role. Interesting that there was no quote that accompanied the story. Not sure if that's standard procedure on buyouts or not. I'm so used to Francis offering a little bit of commentary on all roster moves. I would just caution against jumping directly to this being a penny pinching move. We just don't have all the details to make that call.
Was kind of expecting/looking forward to Wiz being a solid option on the 2nd PP unit. I liked how Pesce played last year he just doesn't really belong on a PP unit.
Wow, didn't see this coming.
My first thoughts were, (A) they don't think he can come back all the way for the beginning of the season and (B) they want the roster spot/cap space to sign a vet FA, and we very well could be bringing back Liles.
E Staal to Carolina for $8 mill per season (e4).
I have a sneaky suspicion that we like Roman Polak. Right-handed and some serious snarl. Looked terrible in San Jose so hee should be cheap. Veteran presence. Can be exposed in expansion draft. He checks a lot of boxes.